Short answer: run a free automated checker on your most important pages, then spend 15 minutes testing them yourself with only a keyboard and with zoom turned up. Automated tools find only part of the problems, so the hands-on test matters.
Free automated tools
- WAVE, from WebAIM: paste in a page address and it marks problems on the page.
- Lighthouse, built into Google Chrome: right-click the page, choose Inspect, open the Lighthouse tab, and run the Accessibility check.
- The free axe DevTools browser extension, which uses the same open-source engine AccessClerk uses.
- The AccessClerk free preview checks your first 10 pages in a real browser, counts every problem type, lists the documents it finds, and checks a sample of your PDFs, in plain English.
Most free tools check one page at a time. That's fine for your home page and your busiest pages. For a whole site and every posted document, you need an inventory.
A 15-minute hands-on test
- Keyboard only. Put the mouse aside and press Tab to move through the page, Shift+Tab to go back, and Enter to follow a link. Can you reach every menu, link, button and form field? Can you always see where you are?
- Zoom. Zoom the browser to 200% (press Ctrl and + a few times; Cmd and + on a Mac). Does the text get bigger without overlapping or getting cut off, and can you still use the menu? Then go to 400%: the page should rearrange into one column, so you never have to scroll sideways to read a line.
- Images. Do the images that carry information have descriptions? WAVE shows them.
- Forms. Does every field have a visible label? Can you tell what went wrong when you leave a required field empty?
- Videos. Do they have accurate captions?
- Documents. Run a few PDFs through the free PDF checker, or open them and try to select the text. If you can't, they're probably scans or pictures of text. See scanned PDFs.
- Listen. If you can, try a screen reader: VoiceOver is built into Macs and iPhones, and NVDA is free for Windows.
What automated checks can't tell you
Software can find a missing description, but not whether a description is accurate. It can't tell whether a page makes sense read aloud, whether the reading order of a PDF is right, or whether a complex form works with a keyboard from start to finish. That's why no automated tool can tell you a site complies. Use automated checks to find and sort the work, then test the pages residents use most.
A word about overlays
Toolbars and widgets that promise one-line accessibility don't fix the site itself. The Federal Trade Commission ordered accessiBe to pay $1 million in 2025 over claims that its tool could make any website comply with WCAG.
See where your site stands
A free AccessClerk preview checks your first 10 pages in a real browser, lists the documents it finds and checks a sample of your PDFs, in plain English. No sign-up.
Check your site freeMore guides
- ADA Title II website rule: deadlines and a plan for small towns
- How to make agenda, minutes and form PDFs accessible
- Scanned PDFs and screen readers: why copier scans fail and how to fix them
- Do old agendas and minutes need to be accessible? The archive and pre-existing document exceptions
- Website vendor or staff: who fixes which accessibility problems?
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Talk to your attorney about how the rule applies to you.